JSzymczyk 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 Tanning a hide is relatively expensive, and zonker strips are relatively cheap. Just sayin'. How do you figure "expensive?" Two tablespoons of salt and a tablespoon of alum cost pennies. Time consuming, and a bit fussy I'll grant you, but definitely not expensive. That said, I purchase my Zonker strips ready made too. I'm all for telling someone to tan their own hides, because it is interesting and educational and practical, but as was already pointed out there are about a billion (maybe more) methods of skin preservation but they don't all yield the results that a fly tyer is looking for in zonker strips. It's a lot of work, and it certainly can be done, but like almost everyone else here, I will buy zonker strips if I need them rather than do them myself. To get a nice, clean, soft-tanned skin involves a HELL of a lot more work than just dumping a skin in a bucket of solution. Alum cure is not really tanning. Even after breaking the cured hide, you're not going to get the soft, very flexible skin - which can stand up to repeated soakings in water - by alum curing. To be what is considered tanned, made into leather, a hide first has to be pickled in a controlled low ph soak, then introduced to chemicals which permanently change the structure of the proteins in the skin. The alum cure, if done correctly, only satisfies the pickling part of the equation. Sorry for sounding like some kind of know-it-all, but I've seen quite a few folks -myself definitely included- have poor results with home tanning until a comprehensive understanding was achieved. I ruined a few coyote and one very nice red fox skin by taking the advice of people who meant well. I say get some instruction- Jonas Brothers Taxidermy used to have pretty good online articles about tanning- and get the right chemicals. Then when you get a few skins, give it a go. The amount of work to tan just one rabbit skin, in my opinion, just outweighs any amount of fun you will have with it. Do five or six at a time and make it worth your while. If you are going to keep pieces of skin for dubbing, then just get all the flesh and fat off, then pin it out and salt it well until completely dry. Keep it dry and it will last almost forever. I have pieces of a fox squirrel skin I shot in 1984, and they are still perfectly fine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 +1 with JS. If you need a way to keep dried pelts dry, use kitty litter. A jar with a small amount of litter in it will absorb all moisture out of the container. If you keep pieces of the pelt in there, they will stay dry and bug free forever. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
